Suzanne
Rating:
Review
Encrypted messages, secret religious societies, and a conspiracy surrounding the “real” life of Jesus, which has been covered up for centuries and is about to be blown wide open, make up the basis of this pulp thriller. Unfortunately, the entire story is so sensationalized that the book reads like one headline after another from The National Enquirer. Brown apparently thinks his readers need to be hit over the head with something really shocking every two or three pages, a method which made my eyeballs roll into the back of my head. It’s just way too melodramatic – e.g. the “hulking albino” bad guy is a bit much. This book only serves as another reminder of how twisted and power-hungry religious freaks can be (Catholic ones, in this case).
Worst Line:
It appears early on and sets the tone for the rest of the book: “The sins committed today had been Holy in purpose.” Give me a break.
Jennifer
Rating:
Review
It is really too bad - this book has excellent historical facts, as Dan Brown is obviously a great historian. Unfortunately, he is a terrible mystery writer, and this book is written in a very formulaic way. If you've ever read a typical mystery novel, you know exactly what I mean. The characters are marginally developed, the "good guys" always escape danger enough to solve the mystery, and the male and female fall in love by the end of the book.
The DaVinci Code is no exception to the formula, and Dan Brown is not terribly skilled at cleverly hiding it. I now know enough to be dangerous about Leonardo DaVinci, Mona Lisa, PHI and the story of the Holy Grail. This book has piqued my interest in these subjects, and I plan on exploring them further. For that, I thank the author. Reading any more of this authors books, though, no thanks.
Best Lines:
“As a tribute to the magic of Venus, the Greeks used her four-year cycle to organize their Olympiads. Nowadays, few people realized that the four-year schedule of modern Olympic Games still followed the cycles of Venus."
Donnamarie
Rating:
Review
This was an intriguing book about the discovery of a possible alternate history of Christ. As the main characters, Robert Langdon and his accidental partner, Sophie Neveu, follow the cryptic clues and not knowing where they lead, they meet many people who always seem to be out to stop them. We soon learn that no one can be trusted. As a Believer, I read this book with my other hand on my search engine separating fact from fiction. I haven’t read another book like it that intertwined fact and fiction so artfully. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and learned so many interesting truths about the works of DaVinci, PHI and a religion that I thought I knew. I found the story to be twisted, suspenseful and unbelievable at least until I did some homework on Opus Dei and Leonardo DaVinci. It is no wonder that this book has set the Catholic Church on its ear and inspired classes in its study. I would read more Dan Brown novels if only for all of the fascinating facts that he weaves into his stories. I am sticking to the old school story of Christs’ life … but I am wiser.
Best Line:
“What is this – some kind of Harvard scavenger hunt?”
